"Pentecostalism in
Myanmar"

by

Chin Khua Khai

It is a
great honor for me to participate in the Theological Symposium on Non-Western Pentecostalism. I
owe gratitude to Dr. Wonsuk Ma, the academic dean of APTS, Baguio, Philippines
who encouraged me to take part in this event. My appreciation also goes to Dr.
Phil Hilliard, the senior pastor of Bethany Church of Alhambra under whom I am
working, and Dr. Cecil M. Robeck, professor of church history and ecumenics at
Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena for their good advice and encouragement.

Myanmar, known as Burma before 1989, is a country in mainland Southeast
Asia
that shares its borders with China
on the northeast, Laos on the east, Thailand on the southeast, Bangladesh on the
west, and India on the northwest. The estimated population by the year 2000 was
51,539,000 comprised of 135 ethnic groups in which 89.8% are Buddhist, 4.9%
Christian, 3.9% Islam, 0.5% Hindu, and 1.2% primal religions. Catholic
Christianity was introduced to the people in Myanmar around 1554, Protestant
Christianity in 1807,[1]
and Pentecostalism in the 1920s.

The Contribution of Missionaries

Modern
Pentecostalism asserted a rediscovery of the New Testament phenomenon of baptism
in the Holy Spirit evidenced with speaking in tongue (glossolalia) at
Topeka, Kansas in 1901. Ever since, the Pentecostal witness has spread and
reached nations all over the world and is becoming one of the largest Christian
families on earth. It also reached Myanmar
nationals as early as the 20th century. As in many parts of the
world, it is the most dynamic Christian movement in Myanmar today. Three church
organizations--the Assemblies of God, the United Pentecostal Church[2]
(Oneness), the Foursquare Church[3]--and
a number of individual charismatic[4]
believers represent the movement of a vital Christianity that encounters both
nominal Christian practices and the non-Christian world. Both missionaries and
national leaders and believers share great role in contributing Pentecostalism
in Myanmar.

Perhaps
Hector and Sigrid McClean were the first resident Pentecostal missionaries to
Myanmar who worked there during the 1920s. They wrote about their work among the
Melee people in upper Myanmar that resulted in the whole tribe turning to the
Lord from idol worship.[5]
Also their work among Loheh tribe at Ming-tz-shan resulted in a revival where
approximately 60 received the Baptism of the Spirit according to Acts 2:4 and
numbers at the altar seeking with repentance and confession to Christ.[6]
Nothing further is known from their work.

The third
largest single denomination in the country, the Assemblies of God of Myanmar is
the oldest and largest Pentecostal organization that has dated its establishment
in 1931. It reported a total member of 84,158 by the year 2000.[7]
The history of the mission began among the Lisu and Rawang people in the
northern country where half the members belong today.

Initially, the Assemblies of God of
Myanmar began through the extension ministry of the missionaries at southwest
China, on the Salwin and Mekong rivers valley. Ada Buchwater was an English
missionary who arrived at Wheisi on Mekong valley in 1919. In 1921, Ada made
contact and shared the gospel with some Lisus from Myanmar,
which was believed to be the first Pentecostal witness to Myanmar nationals.
Leonard and Olive Bolton from England joined the field in 1924. Their work in
the China side had great impact over the people in Myanmar too.
Also, G. Clifford and Lavada Morrison from
America came
to Wheisi for language study in 1926 but fled to Putao, Myanmar when communist
insurrection began in 1927. They came back to Shang Pah, the Salwin River valley
in southwest China
and opened a mission work in 1931.
Lavada described the hazardous trip of
their exile as the means God used to bring them to ministry among the
tribes in Myanmar.

Then one day
God spoke to our hearts and revealed His purpose in it all, saying, "where there
is no vision, the people perish!" I had to lead you out this way by this route
to give you an eye vision of a people sitting in darkness and the shadow of
death. A people so isolated from the rest of the world, and so secluded in the
depth of these mountains that they are in a particularly unknown region, and
none had ever taken to them the gospel light. I have chosen you to be my
messenger to this people. Will you obey my call?[8]

The actual ministry to the Myanmar
interior started in 1931[9]
when two Rawang tribesmen from Myanmar asked Morrisons to visit them. The story
goes as follows.

Two Rawang
tribesmen from Burma traveled over high mountain passes into Salwin Valley
carrying packs of Burmese goat wool to trade for Chinese rock salt. They came to
Shang Pah, where the Clifford Morrisons were living, and "happened" on a
Pentecostal convention. There they heard for the first time of Jesus who could
wash away their sins. One of the men, tears streaming down his face, waved his
hand toward the west and exclaimed, ‘My people live beyond those mountains ...
They have never heard the story you tell of the one True God, and know not the
'Way of Life' ... Won't you send someone to my people to tell them about Jesus?’[10]

The Morrisons
responded to the call by sending Lisu evangelists. After three months of the
evangelists’ hard work, thirty-seven Lisu and Rawang families came to Christ.
They put away their spirit-altars and committed to serve the living God alone.[11]
Also, Bolton sent native preachers to Lisus in Myanmar for preaching. Thus the
work of the Assemblies of God in Southwest China was extended to Myanmar.

Pentecostal mission became more concrete when believers were gathered into a
church of worshipping community. The first Assemblies of God churches in Myanmar were
planted at the Lisu land
of Kachin State in 1933.[12]
Morrison visited the churches and helped setting in order by electing deacons to
oversee the local services. He taught them to tithe and develop spiritual and
physical responsibilities to be self-reliant. The believers erected church
buildings by their own efforts, using local materials such as bamboo.

Lay ministries incredibly extended the ministry throughout the pioneering period
of the mission. Many notable events took place through the prayers and simple
faith of believers. They gathered in the home of a sick person, prayed all night
long--sometimes even two and three days--until the sick person was healed. Signs
and miracles proved the preaching of gospel and drew people to the Lord.
Morrison noted a case of healing as follows.

One of our preachers was telling me
how a Baptist family in Burma
was led into a deeper experience with the Lord through a case of healing in the
family. This man was the headman of the village and his daughter was very
sick. They had tried every kind of medicine from the hospital, but to no
avail. One of our Lisu workers was present, and under the power of the Spirit
he began to sing a hymn in their own tongue, a language he did not know. The
people were amazed. The song was so worded that they listened with awe, and so
moved that they asked him to prayer for the girl. He did, and the girl was
instantly healed.[13]

The gospel spread fast through a
people movement. The Lisu brought the gospel to the Rawang, and the Rawang in
turn brought to the Lhao-vo. Entire villages turned to Christ and dropped their
heathen practices. Their social and religious lives in bamboo churches were
Christ-centered lives. Herman Tegenfeldt, a Baptist missionary to Kachin land,
noted large numbers of people turned to Christ in which Assemblies of God
participated.[14]

The Morrisons revisited the work in Myanmar in
1940 and convened a two-week revival meeting. They wrote about the revival:

Words will
never be able to express our joy.... During the first or second service in their
midst, the Holy Spirit fell over the whole vast assembly, and over half of the
congregation was praising God and singing in an unknown tongue while many were
dancing in the Spirit.[15]

The church kept
progressing through self-propagating, self-supporting, and self-governing method
of indigenous workers. The Japanese war left behind the burdens of persecution
and torture, and lost of institutions. Despite the church gained more
membership. By the time they convened for a silver Jubilee in 1956, the church
numbered 7,000 members.

In spite of the developing
Pentecostal work in Myanmar, there had not been a permanent resident missionary
until the end of World War II. There were Pentecostal missionaries from Sweden,
Finland, and the Go Ye Fellowship and the Open Bible Standard Church who labored
for a short time prior to World War II, but none of these groups returned to
Myanmar after the war, and thus there was no continuing work.[16]

Nevertheless, the years following
World War II were the great years of advancement for the Assemblies of God in
the various areas of Myanmar
as resident missionaries came to work. The Morrisons came to the Lisu land in
Myanmar in 1947. They started two schools in 1954 in order to prepare workers.
Walter and Lucille Erola from America came in 1951. Walter had worked under the
Finish Salem Mission in 1937 but returned as a liaison officer with the
conquering British and American forces during the closing days of the war in
1942. He came back with his wife Lucille Kathryn as an Assemblies of God
missionary and developed a church at Mogok in central Myanmar with outreach to
other villages nearby. Lucille mentioned a result of their labor, saying “Tun
Gaun and Ma Tin were a Burmese Buddhist couple who turned to Christ by seeing in
their dream the cross of Christ higher than pagodas. They accepted Jesus and
were both filled with the Holy Spirit."[17]

The Leonard
Boltons came to Yangon,
the capital city of Myanmar from
Chitagong of East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) as missionary transfers in 1956.
They noticed that everything had changed since they had landed there thirty
years ago except the spiritual darkness. The city was still full of Buddhist
monasteries, temples, and shrines. They began a meeting at an Indian family's
home, a rented house on Windamere Road, with a few people who were interested in
the Pentecostal messages. Bolton noted, "Church planting here meant rock-bottom
pioneering."[18]
The Boltons labored for a short period but were unable to renew their residence
permit, so they left the country in 1957.

Glenn and Kathleen Stafford came to Yangon
tooversee the urban mission work in 1957. Their special meetings with visiting
evangelists from abroad always attracted crowds. An outstanding occasion was the
full gospel message of evangelist Harvey McAlister, where the gospel message
attracted people from all corners of the city; the sick were healed and
believers experienced the baptism of the Holy Spirit. A remarkable revival
started with the ministry of evangelist Mabel Willetts in 1961. Her powerful
messages drew people to repentance of sins and confession to Christ as Savior
and Lord. The Holy Spirit fell on a group of people in the congregation, which
then developed into a veritable deluge.[19]
This event was a hallmark for the church as a future leader came forth through
the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

Myo Chit, the present General Superintendent of the AG, had commented on the
result of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. He said, "Several of us former
anti-Pentecostals received the Holy Spirit as a result of their ministry."[20]
Coming from a Plymouth Brethren background, he was strongly anti-Pentecostal,
criticizing the Pentecostal mission in Yangon as a
"crazy church." He also commented that his pride was broken as God baptized him
in the Holy Spirit as an evidence of speaking in tongue (glossolalia) in
1961. He then became affiliated with the Staffords and the Pentecostal church.
In 1965, knowing without doubt that the Staffords' invitation to a full-time
ministry was the call of God, he quit his job and assisted the Staffords in the
church. In March 1966, he succeeded the missionaries as the pastor of Yangon
Evangel Church, when the government sent all missionaries home.

Ray and
Bethany Trask were the last missionaries to arrive in 1961, continuing the urban
ministry at Yangon
as the Staffords took a furlough. Ray Trask made several gospel tours, preaching
to nearby villages and was able to bring some Buddhists and Hindus to Christ.
They moved to Mogok until the government forced them to leave the country in
1965.

Stafford commented the revival in a
biennial convention celebrated in 1961. More than 3000 national believers from
all parts of the country attended the convention. Each meeting ended with an
altar call at about 11:00 p.m., yet people were praying and worshipping the Lord
until midnight.
He said,

These were
Pentecostal Christians and we had a 'real' Pentecostal convention... Some
repented and confessed sins of long standing; some were convicted of carrying
firewood on Sunday, or may be it was killing a chicken on the Lord's day. You
might smile at this, but to these sincere Christians they had transgressed their
standard and wanted to repent. Others were guilty of greater things and we knew
God was working.[21]

The missionaries had always struggled for their entrance as well as their
resident visas since independence in 1948. The Morrisons returned to the U.S.A. for
retirement in 1959. The Walters left the country for the last time in 1962, not
able to obtain a renewed visa. His writing on the wall said, "No new visa nor
any re-entry visas were issued to missionaries since late 1962."[22]
It became much harder when the military coup took place in 1962, and especially
when Myanmar became a closed country in 1964. In March 1966, the Socialist
government declared that all foreign missionaries had to leave the country
within a month. Maynard Ketchem cited a phrase from the Guardian, a local
newspaper about the government order, saying, "By April 30th, 1966, all
Christian missionaries must leave Burma."[23]
Ever since this time, no foreign missionary has worked in Myanmar.

However, God
did not leave with the missionaries. By 1970, Pentecostals everywhere in the
country recorded steady growth. In Yangon,
the capital city, Myo Chit was left alone in full charge of the Evangel Church
since 1966. Attendance dropped so that ten to fifteen people in the Sunday
worship services were considered to be a large crowd. But the church soon
overcame as God met their needs. A woman unknown to the pastor before was
touched by the message. As she learned the church was in debt, she wrote a check
to the pastor that completely canceled the debt. Another family felt led to
donate land that was their family inheritance. The site became a center for
short-term Bible training for young people from all over Myanmar, and later
became the Evangel Bible
College. The Pentecostal message and worship drew more people from all corners
of the city and foreign visitors during the 1970s. It had grown to four or five
hundred regular attendants by 1980. Healing and miracles often occurred as the
pastor put forth his Pentecostal message.

Renewal Movement and
Pentecostalism

The
Pentecostal movement has become more visible as a great renewal has swept
churches among the Chins since 1970s. The renewal started in some local Baptist
churches and spread across the country but has resulted in planting many
Pentecostal churches later. The Assemblies of God has added up half of its total
membership since the renewal. The United Pentecostal Church and the Foursquare
Church have also sprung up as a result of the renewal.

The renewal movement has brought nominal Christians and non-Christians to active
conversion. The Chins have been converted to the Christian faith from primal
religion with a great people movement since the 1900s. Christianity has helped
form great transformational change in society and culture. By 1970, many
educated Chins have held and served in government offices all over the country.
Also, many Chin soldiers served in the government army. Unfortunately, the
second- and third-generation Christians not only among the Chins but also
everywhere in the country were nominal in faith and practice. They had no
knowledge about the salvation of God given by His grace and received by faith.
To make matters worse, liberalism has slowly influenced the teachings in Bible
schools in Myanmar since
1960s[24]
so that the ministries of trained pastors became more or less loose in faith and
practice toward the authority of Scripture.

Early in the 1970s, a burden for renewal fell on a small group in the Tedim Baptist
Church. On January 27,
1973,
the pastor Hau Lian Kham with a small group started praying to the Lord for a
renewal in the church. After much intense prayer, they conducted an open-air
crusade starting on April 30,
1973
that lasted for a week. Such an evangelistic open-air crusade was never
conducted before in this region. The gospel message presented the love and grace
of God and his forgiveness to the repentant sinners, and redemption from
condemnation to eternal salvation. The work of the Holy Spirit was so strong
that many people responded to the call to commitment with repentance and
confessing Christ.

Eventually the crusade became a launch pad of the renewal movement. Renewal and
conversion spread every day through the witness of born again believers. Being
born again was an issue of discussion in offices, schools, market places, and on
the streets. Thirst for the study of the word of God, a burden for prayer, zeal
for witnessing and love and burden for lost souls increased in born again
believers.

Throughout the years, the renewal
continued to spread to many Chin individuals, on the periphery of the
ecclesiastical structure. Those lay believers provided essential service in
spreading the renewal throughout the country. They penetrated society with the
gospel and carried out priestly ministry as they offered praise to God, prayed
and interceded, preached and taught the Word of God as McGavran has stated:

Revival
implants Christ's Spirit in believers and forthwith they, like their master,
make bringing salvation to the world a chief purpose of their lives. A holy
anxiety that their neighbors and loved ones share the redeeming power of the
gospel seizes the revived. Like those in dwelt at Pentecost, they go everywhere
preaching the word. They seek to win men and women to Christ. The good life they
now enjoy they ardently wish others to experience.[25]

Since the
renewal, the Assemblies of God has become the third largest denomination in the
country.[26]
Experiencing the special empowerment of the Holy Spirit and looking for a
broader mission perspective, Hau Lian Kham, a key leader of the renewal
movement, gradually shifted his belief and practice from
fundamental-evangelicalism to Pentecostalism. In 1977, he became a member of the
Assemblies of God of Myanmar and influenced many believers and local churches to
turn to the Pentecostal fervor that has added great growth to the Assemblies of
God.

Miracles
often follow Pentecostal witness. Many people testified of healing from cancer,
high blood pressure, tonsillitis, skin disease, and other maladies. Vision and
hearing were restored. Deliverance from the bondage of evil spirits occurred
from time to time. I will describe a few miraculous events that would help
better understand the phenomena.
[27]

As the answer
to believers’ intense prayer, a water-spring broke out in the middle of Tungzang
village in 1980. The Tedim AG section celebrated an annual convention at
Tungzang. Situated on a mountain, the villagers always have problems not having
enough water. Not knowing what to do for a great occasion where 3000 people
would gather, believers prayed for rain and water supply. Miraculously, a water
spring broke out in the middle of the village on the day the convention began
that supplied enough water. The spring still exists today.

Miracles often followed the ministry of evangelist Tamki. He was an animist
converted from Mindat in southern Chin State in
Myanmar. Dominated mainly by animism and Buddhism, the people here are greatly
attracted by supernatural manifestations. Power encounters thus have often led
people to Christ in people movements. He often challenged his own people with
the name of Jesus. One day, a group of people plotted to shoot and kill him
while he was witnessing. To their astonishment, the guns would not fire the
bullets. Because of this miracle and God's powerful protection, many came to
believe his witness and sought to receive Christian faith. He testified to many
more miracles in his ministry.

An angel
protected evangelist Khai Khan Suan from being killed. One night, while
preaching at a village crusade near Kale, some men from the village tried to
kill him. But they could not, for they saw an angel hovering over and
protecting the preacher and the crusade. They were afraid to do any harm to the
preacher. Finally, they all turned to Christ.

The ministry of evangelist Kam Cin Hau included many miraculous accounts. He
started the "Back to the Bible" ministry in 1987 as a response to his experience
of ecstasy, a vision in which he was taken to the heavenly abode of Christ and
his angels. He reported on some of his noteworthy crusades. A crusade in
Khuasak during April 20-24, 1988 resulted in adding converts, people being
filled with Holy Spirit evidenced by speaking in tongues, being slain in the
Spirit, and receiving healing from sicknesses. While people were slain, crying
and laughing occurred. At the crusade in Suangzang during May 4-11,
1988
the audience was slain in the Spirit, confessed their sins and accepted Christ
as Savior and Lord. A six-year old boy cried aloud while slain, saying that he
had a vision of his parents in hell asking for water. The village primal
religious priest was sick to the point of death, but he was healed and converted
through prayer during the crusade. At the crusade in Heilei village during May
12-18, 1988, people fell slain before the Lord, crying and laughing, being
filled with Holy Spirit. They put away their smoking tobacco, tuibuk
drug, and drinking zu (beer). The crusaders broke 200 beer pots in one
day. Five to seven thousand attended every meeting at the crusade in Tedim town
during July 29-August 7, 1988. The work of the Holy Spirit was so powerful that
many people repented and accepted Christ as Savior and Lord, received healing
through being slain in the Spirit, and spoke in tongues. The crusade was
celebrated with singing and dancing in the Spirit. Many preadolescents were
renewed during the crusade and more than thirty of them went out for evangelism
to nearby villages.

The work of the Holy Spirit has not
been restricted to traditional Pentecostal denominations, however. The ministry
of Lang Do Khup is a charismatic movement in the Baptist church. He had a great
turning point in his ministry towards the charismatic fervor. One day, a village
priest told him how in the primal religion healing the sick comes by worshipping
dawis (evil spirits), while Christians are powerless to bring such
healing. This challenge compelled Khup to pray to God for the power of
healing. One day, with some believers, he prayed for a lame girl. Nothing
happened, so they returned home. But the Holy Spirit spoke to him to go back
and pray for the girl. As he turned back and prayed, the girl stood up and
walked with no help. On another occasion, God spoke to him to raise the dead
man. He persisted with God. He said that doubts and fear came as he prayed.
But the Holy Spirit encouraged him to persist in prayer. Finally, the dead man
came alive. During the youth crusade at Suangpi village, a women by the name
Khup Dim who had been paralyzed for twenty
years was instantly healed and was jumping and praising the Lord with a great
joy. Many received the baptism of Holy Spirit with the manifestation of speaking
in tongue.

Another
example is Lian Za Dal, who testified to his ministry among the Buddhists at
Yangon. He was a former pastor of the Siyin Baptist church but started a new
church to evangelize the neighboring Buddhists in 1991. To his great surprise,
Pentecostal power fell on the church during the worship time on the day of
Pentecost in 1996. The members started speaking in tongues, prophesying, and
seeing visions what they know nothing before. The Spirit equipped the members
with spiritual gifts. Some of the boys and girls, around ten years old, could
see visions of what happened in the spiritual realm. Dal himself was given the
authority to heal and to command angels in the name of Jesus. They were
equipped with spiritual strength for warfare. Being an educated man and trained
in the Baptist Theological Seminary, Dal had a hard time accepting all these
phenomena. But by searching for the will of God and examining everything
through the word of God, he became a charismatic preacher in a local Baptist
church.

Beliefs and Practices

The emphasis on speaking in tongues (glossolalia) as a sign of the
baptism of the Holy Spirit was a dynamic factor of the Pentecostal renewal. As
Pentecostalism developed into a movement in the late 1970s, believers were urged
to seek the baptism of the Holy Spirit, also known as being filled with the Holy
Spirit and subsequent to a born again experience. As Robert P. Menzies
articulated, the baptism was taught a subsequent to regeneration and the gateway
to receive other spiritual gifts.[28]
Therefore, members hungrily sought for the special gift. As they received it,
they were renewed with joy, increased desire for the Lord, and boldness for
witnessing.

Pentecostals were evangelical in their basic tenant of faith and practice. They
strictly emphasized the authority of Scripture, salvation of Christ by faith
through grace, the urgency of Christ's coming, and the need for immediate
response to the invitation for salvation. Doctrinally, they were distinct from
the mainline evangelical bodies only in terms of their emphasis on the
charismatic gifts and functions. What Gordon D. Fee has stated is accorded with
Pentecostals among the Chins. He says:

Traditionally, they have put their overall theological emphasis precisely where
other evangelicals do on the person and work of Christ. Nonetheless, the public
expression of tongues, which has so often characterized Pentecostal worship, has
also served as much as anything else to distinguish Pentecostals, and very often
therefore to separate them, from their other bothers and sisters in Christ.[29]

Moreover, Pentecostals preach and teach subjects on the full gospel message,
living a holy life, and the imminent return of Christ--messages that have helped
many to deeper commitment. Their message on liberation from poverty and
self-lowliness and positive attitude has helped lift many from their low
self-images. The subject of holy living emphasizes believers as the temples of
the Holy Spirit, urging them to keep themselves holy, being separated from
worldly manners. As a result, believers dropped and abstained from their old
habits of drinking, smoking, singing secular songs, reading novels, watching
movies, and anything that would affect their spiritual growth.[30]
Also believers always look forward to the rapture of believers in their
lifetime.

Pentecostal
worship is a great transforming pattern. They have learned that worship is an
essential part of being a Christians and corporate worship a compelling need
among believers. Pentecostal worship services are very different from those of
the traditional style of worship. The enthusiasm with modern praise and worship
choruses and musical instruments and their style corporate prayer all make the
worship services exciting and joyful. Praise and worship with choruses and a few
hymns, led with musical accompaniment, and clapping hands are seen in all born
again churches. Solos, duets, trios, group singers, and action singers
attractively and persuasively support the worship. Choruses
composed within their own contexts that convey deep relationship with the Lord,
developing theological insight that has helped people focus on deeper worship
and praise.

The
Pentecostals do not despise study and knowledge but emphasize the ministry of
the Holy Spirit. The Khanlawhna Hun (The Revival Hours) is a newsletter
that alludes to a scriptural theme taken from Zechariah 4:6, "Not by might nor
by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord Almighty" (NIV). For they acknowledge
the Holy Spirit as the only power source, helper, and teacher of the things of
God. As the result, the glory of God shown in miracles have always been
witnessed and reported.

Pentecostal Excesses and Heresies

In spite of the above phenomena that helped build the body, Pentecostals in
Myanmar do face excesses and heresies as well. There have often been prophecies
that led believers to falsehood. The prophecies were called thusuak or
sawln--that is forth-telling, demanding someone to do something. It began
with certain people who claimed to receive the audible voice of God that
demanded certain things to accomplish. If people would fail to do these
things, then calamity would follow. This, which I call the “prophetic
movement,”[31]
can be put into two periods: the early prophetic movement (1977-1980s) and the
latter prophetic movement (1990s).

A
movement that appeared in 1977 included dancing, crying, and rolling on the
floor, and carrying tables and chairs, running around the church as a mode of
repentance. The followers put on sackcloth, stood in the middle of the village
and called for repentance. Furthermore, they claimed to have received
prophecies, saying that the Holy Spirit spoke to them audibly. They said the
Bible was insufficient, and prophecies today were far more important.

As the
heresies spread, a group of them tried to raise a dead body at Phaiza village,
claiming that God told them to do so. But the body was not raised. They went
around the Tedim town believing that God would give them all the people in the
town. Their meetings commonly used excessive drum beating, dancing, and
repeating one song more than ten times. They planted crosses at open-ground,
waited for the rapture, and abstained from certain food and meats. Miracles
sometimes followed as participants acted on prophecies. A group of them
prepared a three-foot square piece of ground for the landing of a plane, which
was reinterpreted as a spiritual plane that would rapture them. Any prophecy
that did not come true was reinterpreted as testing of their faith.

The group
considered themselves holier than any believer for they prayed and committed
themselves seriously. They asserted the name "Jesus" was that of an ancient
Greek god, and stressed Yashua as the true name. Therefore, water
baptism in the name of Yashua alone gives salvation. They even declared
themselves descendants of the Israelites. They kept the Sabbath and observed
rites of circumcision. Finally, the group split into smaller sects, Khami
Pawl (Spiritual Group), Nazareth Khuami Yashua pawl (Church of Yashua
of Nazareth), and those who joined with the United Pentecostal Church (UPC).

John Thang
Hum, a pastor at Kalemyo, reported a particular event. A prophetess came to
Tahan AG church and prophesied in a prayer of healing for a sick person in the
church. The pastor, Lian Zam, with two of his deacons followed the prophetess
with no hesitation. They prayed for the sick person but nothing happened. The
prophetess then suggested the need to kill a chicken and apply the blood to the
body of the sick person. The pastor instantly rejected the prophecy, telling
that the death of Jesus was sufficient for cleansing our sins and healing our
sickness. Such prophecies were similarly denied as false elsewhere in the
movement.

Another kind of prophetic movement is called the “cleansing movement”[32]
that appeared by mid 1990s. Although some think the movement is heresy, only
excesses and misuse of the movement constitute heresy. Generally, it has been a
positive force in the church. One of the cleansing movements was called
"cleansing village.” It was done mainly as an expression of unity among the
villagers-churches, with youth and adults together. The evil spirits were
chased and cast out of the village, spiritually unclean things were destroyed or
burned down, and united worship was celebrated. It is similar to the Khuado
feast,[33]
a time when villagers chase spirits out of the village.

Similar to
this movement is “cleansing houses.” According to the prophecy, certain houses
would need to be cleansed for good health, prosperity, and the success of the
household members. The prophets in visions saw the unclean things in the
house--things that were dedicated to evil spirits, material used for worshipping
spirits, and things in which spirits dwelt. Those things hindered the household
from prosperity and health, and even caused sickness and loss among the family
members. The prophet and believers would take and throw them away, or burn them
in a fire. After that, they would rededicate the house to God with prayer.

Tual Khaw Mang, a retired civil officer, testified of the cleansing of his house
at Saizang in 1995. His parents and grandparents were chiefs of the Saizang
village and were primal worshipers until they wholly turned to Christ in 1995.
They celebrated the ceremony of dedication and house cleansing, as they received
Christ and committed themselves to follow him. To their surprise, dilemmas and
sickness came on the family members the following days. A prophecy with a
vision was pronounced as they prayed. The prophet saw in the vision that there
were unclean things left in the house, things that were used for demonic
worship, which thus needed to be destroyed immediately. Accordingly, they found
a sword, a javelin, pots, and things dedicated to their household spirits they
had not even used for years. As they burned them their problems were resolved
and sicknesses were healed.

The
prophetic movement gave the church a bad name among the Chin society. Two main
reasons underlie this bad name: First, prophecy was misused for personal gain;
and second, the prophecy did not come true. Also, the gifts were not practiced
with consistent discipline. Much of the unfounded prophecy was not delivered in
the church but outside the church where the prophet or prophetess functioned
independently. Such a person did not allow himself or herself to be disciplined
biblically.

The church,
particularly the Assemblies of God, denied the false teachings and practices. In
1978, Hau Lian Kham, Myo Chit, Dam Suan Mung, Suak Za Go and other leaders
taught biblical criteria by which true prophets and prophecies could be
distinguished from the false. First, a true prophecy must be in accord with,
not contradicting, the teachings of Scripture. Second, it must edify
believers. Third, it must be fulfilled. Fourth, it must glorify the name of
Christ. Again in 1997, churches at Kale organized a prophetic conference in 1997
in order to put the prophetic movement in accord with Biblical teachings. Dam
S. Mung, pastor of the Full Gospel
Church at Yangon, taught about the nature of prophecy in the Bible and how to
handle a prophetic movement. It was reported to be very helpful for local
churches.

Pentecostal Education

In
Myanmar, critics often speak of Pentecostals as emotionalists who are not
oriented toward intellectual matters. In reality, however, Pentecostals have
emphasized Christian education from the very beginning and have educated many
workers for the service of the Kingdom. All local churches encourage not only
children but also adults to attend their Sunday schools.

As early as
the mission began, the missionaries conducted short-term schools in various
villages that educated the natives. In 1954, there were two schools[34]
among the Lisus and Rawangs. They taught Bible lessons as well as reading,
writing, and arithmetic. The school at Putao was moved to Myitkyina in 1964 and
was named Burma Bible School.[35]
The school offered a three-year diploma course in Bible and theological studies.

Evangel Bible
College was opened in Yangon on August 2,
1979
with a resident teacher and 20 students. The college followed the curriculum and
materials prepared by the International Correspondence Institute (ICI) of Brussels,
Belgium.[36]Maranatha Bible College opened
at Kale in the northwestern area of the country in 1988 under the supervision
and sponsorship of the District Council No. 3. Bethel
Bible College opened at Tedim
in 1991. It is also known as the "Decade of
Harvest Center."The Apostolic
Christian Bible College at Yangon was opened in 1986 and offers a bachelor
degree with the UPC doctrine and curriculum. The Full Gospel Bible Training
Center at Yangon opened in 1995 and offers a diploma course. School of Gospel
Ministry at Yangon also offers a diploma course. Beside these, there are
short-term Bible training schools in different towns and cities. Also, the
respective districts and general councils conduct conventions and Bible seminars
to mobilize and equip their people for service. With all of this training, the
Pentecostals are well equipped for the service of the Kingdom.

Pentecostals in
Myanmar are committed to evangelism and mission work. Churches send home
missionaries both to completely unreached people groups and to where Pentecostal
ministry has not been started yet. They believe in church planting a strategy
for growth. They gathered converts into worshipping communities and then viable
churches.

Missions have been carried out
through a self-supporting program. All
Pentecostal churches have developed
means to support their home missionaries. Kyiyudaw Shubu (Lawm Bawm),
meaning "thanks offering box," is a box in which believers put coins in
thanksgiving to the Lord in addition to their tithes and offerings on Sundays.
The believers put coins in the box with praise to God for the blessings they
have received, and then they bring it to church on a fixed date to support the
mission work. Let tashoh sa (khut pham) is a handful of rice which the
mother of the household keeps aside whenever she prepares a meal. In the same
way, a girl keeps aside a stick of firewood (an sing) out of that which
she collects in the forest. After a time, they gather all the things they have
put aside, sell them, and then hand over the money to the mission department.
With these methods the Women's Mission
provides support for missionaries.

Conclusion

Pentecostals in Myanmar are growing fast compared to all other denominations.
Many nominal Christians and non-believers have been brought to a right
relationship with Christ. They celebrate worship joyfully. Maynard Ketcham, the field director
of Far East Asia for the AG one time characterized the Assemblies of God in
Myanmar as a model church with its self-propagating, self-supporting, and
self-governing methods.[38]I would
like to comment on few theological and mission issues.

Preaching on
salvation should reemphasize a collective approach to the salvation of God.
Renewal preachers often addressed individual sin, individual repentance, and
individual salvation-- a pattern copied from western individualism. This gives
less impact in Myanmar society because social sin was not addressed, people with
group identity were not acknowledged, and social change was less concentrated.
The image of “group above self” slowly disappears as the individual movement
takes over the people movement. Perhaps many would-be converts were denied
acceptance in the church as a result of their inability to restructure their
socially determined selves.

Although encounters with spirits and
powers were not a new phenomenon among the Pentecostals, the
“cleansing-prophetic movement” was a breakthrough theoretically as well as
practically in the life of the churches. The main distinction from other
spiritual warfare was that it operated through prophecy. It has to do with the
culture in which primal religion was practiced before. The prophet or prophetess
could see in a vision the spirits and their abiding place in the house, the
village, or even in the person and animal. Those spirits brought calamities to
the people. The prophet or prophetess with the followers chased (cast) those
spirits out in the name of Jesus. The “cleansing prophetic movement” is a
deliverance ministry performed in a collective way.

Many believers, even among the
Pentecostals, regard prophetic ministry as having no grounds for corroboration
or validity and is not Scriptural. It is the position of this paper that the
participants were not telling lies, but rather were recounting real
experiences. The prophetic ministry is an act of encountering unseen spirits
and supernatural powers what Paul Hiebert terms the “excluded middle.”[39]
Such events were rampant among people of folk religions, not only in Myanmar but
also throughout the whole world. These are realities which science does not
explain, but which merit spiritual recognition, observation, discernment, and
intervention. To the people in Myanmar, the existence of spirit beings, demons,
and souls is not just a myth but a life encounter. Thus, the prophetic movement
has offered a necessary and powerful spiritual dimension. Nevertheless, it
calls for credibility-and reliability-testing in terms of Scriptural as well as
empirical interpretation.

Beside the
theological issues, the Church in Myanmar always struggles to overcome some
mission roadblocks. The Buddhist world still remains unshaken with the witness
of the gospel of Christ and is a major challenge to the Christians in Myanmar.
Christians feel uneasy when nationalism and Buddhism are coined together, “A
good Bama is a good Buddhist.” Consequently, restriction and discrimination from
the government follow many Christian activities. Worship in house churches has
been prohibited. Crosses on the top of mountains and churches were pulled down
and burned. Distribution of Christian publications is restricted. Even promotion
to higher position both in civil and military offices has been stopped for
Christians. Christians as a minority group have no voice in this social
landscape.

Poverty is another
roadblock to growth. The national economy has fallen to rock bottom, a shortage
of major products has occurred for years, and inflation has rocketed up every
day. Many small churches could not promote activities due to lack of resources.
New churches could not raise enough money to build their own buildings.
Ministers do not get enough support, so they struggle for survival. They need
both spiritual and moral support.

In spite of the roadblocks,
Pentecostal witness always has a great prospect of success in the Kingdom
mission. Serving with the power of Holy Spirit followed by miracles, healing,
signs, and wonders has a great challenge to the Buddhists and Animistic
practices. Also, lay believers have been effectively instrumental in spreading
the gospel since the beginning of the mission. Therefore, mobilizing and
equipping them with deeper theological knowledge and then commissioning them to
carry the task will bring great advancement for the mission.

[2]
J. Ral Buai organized the United Pentecostal Church in 1973. Their belief of
modalism (Oneness), speaking in tongues as evidence of salvation, practices
such as baptism in the name of Jesus, and dancingand rolling and excessive drum
beating during the worship are not accepted in the rest of the Pentecostal
groups, however.

[3]Philip Ahone founded the
Full Gospel Foursquare Church in 1989. Formerly he was a minister in the
Assemblies of God and a well-known evangelistic preacher in the early
renewal movement. With a few daughter churches, he organized the Foursquare
Church.

[4]
The charismatic movement in
Myanmar is a practice of individual believers rather than the church as a
whole. It is seen among a few local churches and parachurch movements.

[24]
Myanmar Institute of Theology (formerly known as Burma Institute of
Theology), Insein, Yangon
is the largest theological school in Myanmar. It has been largely influenced
by the teachings of theological liberalism since the 1960’s. See “The Church
in Myanmar,” in Church in Asia Today: Challenges and
Opportunities Today,
ed. Saphir Arthyal (Singapore: Asia Lausanne Committee for World
Evangelization, 1996), pp. 349-60.

[33]Khuado feast is a harvest (New Year) festival. It is similar to the
water (New Year) festival of ethnic Bama. The Chins celebrate it every year
after the harvest. The traditional concept of Khuado is fighting
against evil spirits and chasing them out of the village, as well as
cleansing the village in order to welcome the new year after harvest. For
details see, Khai, Dynamics of Renewal, p. 75.